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Deutsche Bank: Making a big impact in local communities

Support for grassroots initiatives through the Deutsche Bank Small Grants Fund

“The grant was a lifeline. It helped us get started and become self-sufficient” Mina Mawson, Youth Education Support Services based in South London, past recipient.

Deutsche Bank is proud to support the grassroots, local initiatives often overlooked by other funders via the Deutsche Bank Small Grants Fund . Many local groups provide an invaluable service within their communities, responding directly to local needs and making a significant impact with limited resources.

Through the Small Grants Fund, Deutsche Bank is able to focus its support on small charities and local organisations that share its commitment to helping young people reach their potential and improve life chances. The Fund is part of Deutsche Bank’s youth engagement programme, Born to Be, which aims to break the cycle of youth unemployment through early intervention.

The Deutsche Bank Small Grants Fund has distributed over £750,000 to local groups since it began in 2006, through our partner organisations the Community Foundation for Merseyside, Foundation Scotland and the London Community Foundation . Panels of Deutsche Bank employees decide which groups to support in their local areas. This year the Fund provided 31 grants in London, Scotland and Merseyside. Three of the groups that benefitted are highlighted below:

London – Exposure Exposure will deliver the ‘The North London Apprentice’: a project which offers 20 secondary school students hands-on work experience over three months. Participants will be trained to deliver business pitches, research new markets and tasked with the very real job of securing new media and communications business for the charity and selling advertising in Exposure, its quarterly youth publication. The proposal presents a clever use of funds. By supporting young people in gaining employability skills, they also contribute to the financial sustainability of this innovative, youth-led project.

Merseyside – Liverpool ADHD Foundation The Liverpool ADHD Foundation ensures that people suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) get the support they need to ensure a positive future. Young people suffering from ADHD are particularly vulnerable to exclusion from school – especially GCSE students who experience acute distress with exam pressure due to the disorder’s characteristics. The project will identify 32 young people at serious risk of exclusion and support them in the final two years of their secondary education to help them remain in school, achieve their potential and improve their employability, by providing support tailored to their ADHD.

Scotland – Bankie Talk Bankie Talk prepares and delivers talking newspapers for visually impaired young people. The grant will enable Bankie Talk to work in partnership with five local secondary schools to provide volunteering opportunities for final year pupils to edit and produce the youth magazines. The school students will gain transferrable skills; including presentation, editing and IT software skills, as well as gaining an understanding of some of the more vulnerable members of their community. This aids transition during the crucial period in which school students leave school for further education and employment.

Setting up an endowment to support local causes currently attracts 50 percent matched funding from the Government. For more information, click here .